RRND Email Full Text (Scheduled)

  • Russia: Regime boots British diplomat for allegedly spying

    Source: Politico

    “Russian authorities have ordered a British diplomat in Moscow to leave the country within two weeks, accusing the person of espionage. ‘Moscow will not tolerate the activities of undeclared British intelligence officers on Russian territory,’ Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement published Thursday morning. Britain’s charge d’affaires in Russia, Danae Dholakia, was summoned to the Foreign Ministry where she was issued with a warning. ‘It was stated that Russia will continue to implement a line of zero-compromise on this issue in accordance with our country’s national interests,’ Moscow said. The statement also cautioned London against any ‘escalation of the situation,’ threatening a ‘decisive ‘mirror’ response.'” (01/15/26)

    https://www.politico.eu/article/russia-expels-british-diplomat-spying-accusation

  • Appeals court reverses ruling that released political prisoner Mahmoud Khalil

    Source: Yahoo! News

    “An appeals court reversed the lower court decision that freed pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil from immigration detention, in a major win for the Trump administration. Khalil was picked up at his Columbia University housing complex and jailed as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian protests. He spent about three months in a Louisiana detention center and missed the birth of his son. The administration alleges he was one of the main organizers of the Columbia University encampment. The Third Circuit, sitting in Philadelphia, ruled 2-1 that the federal district court in New Jersey had no jurisdiction to order the release of the Columbia graduate student because immigration challenges are handled differently under the law.” (01/15/26)

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/appeals-court-reverses-ruling-released-155854381.html

  • UK: Citing Secret Plot, Conservative Party Fires Senior Lawmaker

    Source: New York Times

    “A senior lawmaker for Britain’s Conservative Party was accused on Thursday of ‘plotting’ to defect to a rival party and was ousted, highlighting the fierce competition that is underway for the future of the country’s political right. Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Conservatives, said on social media that she had fired Robert Jenrick, one of the party’s leading lawmakers, after being ‘presented with clear, irrefutable evidence’ that he wanted to leave in a way that would cause maximum damage to his longtime party. Ms. Badenoch did not name the party, but Mr. Jenrick, who has hard-right views, had been rumored to be considering defecting to Reform U.K., the right-wing populist party led by Nigel Farage. Mr. Jenrick did not respond to a request for comment.” (01/15/26)

    https://archive.is/JRmFI

  • US-based pirates seize sixth oil tanker

    Source: France 24 [French state media]

    “US [regime-employed pirates] in the Caribbean Sea have seized another sanctioned oil tanker the Trump administration says has ties to Venezuela, coming as part of a broader US effort to take control of the South American country’s oil. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote Thursday on social media, ‘Motor Tanker Veronica had previously passed through Venezuelan waters, and was operating in defiance of President Trump’s established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean.’ A social media post from US Southern Command on the capture said that Marines and sailors launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to make the capture while Noem’s post noted that, as in previous raids, a US Coast Guard tactical team conducted the boarding and seizure.” (01/15/26)

    https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20260115-us-military-seizes-sixth-oil-tanker-says-links-venezuela

  • Trump meets Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado

    Source: SFGate

    “President Donald Trump is meeting Thursday at the White House with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, whose political party is widely considered to have won 2024 elections rejected by then-President Nicolás Maduro before the United States captured him in an audacious military raid this month. Less than two weeks after U.S. forces seized Maduro and his wife at a heavily guarded compound in Caracas and brought them to New York to stand trial on drug trafficking charges, Trump will host the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Machado, having already dismissed her credibility to run Venezuela and raised doubts about his stated commitment to backing democratic rule in the country. The meeting comes as Trump and his top advisers have signaled their willingness to work with acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s vice president and along with others in the deposed leader’s inner circle remain in charge of day-to-day governmental operations.” (01/15/25)

    https://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/live-updates-trump-threatens-to-use-the-21296500.php

  • Democrat files impeachment articles against ICE Barbie

    Source: United Press International

    “Rep. Robin Kelly has introduced articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem over the alleged excessive use of force by federal agents executing President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. … The first article of impeachment accuses Noem of obstructing Congress by prohibiting elected lawmakers from entering a DHS facility used to detain migrants. … The second impeachment article accuses Noem of violating public trust as well as the Immigration and Nationality Act and the First and Fourth Amendments of the Constitution. … The third, and final, impeachment article accuses the DHS secretary of self-dealing, stating she has misused her position for personal gain. … Some 70 members of Congress have sponsored the articles of impeachment.” (01/15/26)

    https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/01/15/Robin-Kelly-articles-impeachement-Kristi-Noem/3851768460658/

  • Judge denies Amazon’s effort to block Saks Global bankruptcy

    Source: United Press International

    “A U.S. bankruptcy judge denied Amazon.com Inc.’s effort to block a proposed financing deal to help Saks Global Enterprises stay in business amid Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Judge Alfredo Perez on Wednesday night approved an initial $400 million financing lifeline to Saks after a 7.5-hour courtroom battle between Saks and several of its creditors, including Amazon. Saks officials seek $1.75 billion to stay in business, but they will have to return to the U.S. District & Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas for further approvals. Amazon officials and other creditors objected to the proposed bankruptcy financing plan submitted by Saks Global amid the luxury retailer’s financial woes.” (01/15/26)

    https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/01/15/amazon-saks-bankruptcy/2891768507714/

  • Amazon launches new Europe-based cloud service to address user concerns

    Source: Reuters

    “Amazon’s AWS launched a new cloud service located entirely in Europe on Thursday, addressing user concerns about the data security delivered by mainly U.S.-based providers by offering the continent’s own independent alternative. The AWS European Sovereign Cloud’s data centres are physically and legally separate from the U.S.-based company’s other servers, the world’s largest cloud provider said. This will allow the cloud to operate even if the European Union were disconnected from the internet or the United States were to prohibit software exports, AWS Germany Chief Technology Officer Michael Hanisch told Reuters.” (01/15/26)

    https://archive.is/OoCgT

  • Canada: British Columbia regime ends drug decriminalisation pilot programme

    Source: BBC News [UK State Media]

    “The Canadian province of British Columbia (BC) said it will not be extending its controversial drug decriminalisation project, allowing it to expire at the end of January. The programme began in 2023 as a three-year pilot agenda. It was a landmark policy meant to help tackle the province’s deadly opioid addiction crisis, which has claimed thousands of lives in the last decade. But the scheme has faced pushback over concerns around public disorder and drug use. BC’s health minister Josie Osborne said the province is now backing off from the pilot because it ‘hasn’t delivered the results that we hoped for’. At a news conference on Wednesday, Osborne said it is ‘difficult, if not even possible’ to determine whether the programme led more people struggling with opioid addiction to receive treatment. BC was the only province in Canada to implement a drug decriminalisation pilot programme.” (01/15/25)

    https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjrz1nwz590o

  • FTC finalizes GM punishment over driver data sharing scandal

    Source: Engadget

    “After reaching a proposed settlement last year, the FTC has banned General Motors from sharing specific consumer data with third parties, TechCrunch reported. The finalized order wraps up one of the more egregious cases of a corporation collecting its customers’ data and then using it against them. Two years ago, the New York Times released a report detailing how GM’s OnStar “Smart Driver” program collected and sold detailed geolocation and driving behavior data to third parties, including data brokers. Those brokers in turn sold the data to insurance providers, which jacked up the rates for some drivers based on the data. … According to the terms of the settlement, GM is barred from sharing specific user data with consumer reporting agencies for a five year period. The automaker is also required to request user permission before collecting, using or sharing vehicle data with any third party.” (01/15/26)

    https://www.engadget.com/transportation/ftc-finalizes-gm-punishment-over-driver-data-sharing-scandal-130012313.html


  • The Non-Profit Political Scam

    Source: Town Hall
    by Derek Hunter

    “Remember the outrage from the left when Elon Musk and the DOGE crew uncovered all the fraud in the USAID program? Billions of our tax dollars going to leftist causes after being laundered through so-called non-profits. These were ‘charities’ in the most basic and legal sense, but they were really partisan organizations using our tax dollars to advance a progressive agenda around the world. While USAID spread money overseas, much the same scam is happening in the domestic ‘charity’ world, too. When I started at the Heritage Foundation in 2001, one of the first things I was told was that I was NOT to do anything even remotely political on their computers or during work hours. In the Clinton administration, Heritage had been audited nearly every year by the IRS – surely just a coincidence and NOT the early stages of Democrats weaponizing government, right?” (01/15/25)

    https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2026/01/15/the-non-profit-political-scam-n2669465

  • To Survive Trump, Starmer Must Think the Unthinkable

    Source: Cato Institute
    by Patrick Porter & David Blagden

    “Britain can no longer avoid the costs of appeasing America’s predatory president.” (01/15/26)

    https://www.cato.org/commentary/survive-trump-starmer-must-think-unthinkable

  • The Many Deaths of Liberalism

    Source: Law & Liberty
    by David G Bonagura Jr.

    “Liberalism has always had its critics. But in 2018, Patrick Deneen went a step further: he declared liberalism a failed project — and explained how in Why Liberalism Failed. Since then, multiple obituaries for liberalism have been written, and Postliberalism, which calls for a replacement of the liberal order that shapes the West, has become a formidable movement on the right. Nevertheless, as if it had never heard a report of its own demise, liberalism endures today as a political order, political philosophy, and a way of life. Yet Deneen is not the first to give a failing grade to liberalism.” (01/15/26)

    https://lawliberty.org/the-many-deaths-of-liberalism/

  • Why “Good Money” Always Disappears When “Bad Money” Is Circulated

    Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
    by Tom Wilson

    “Gresham’s Law isn’t about greed or bad behavior. It describes rational decision-making under fixed rules. When people are given the option to spend weaker money or save stronger money, they do what makes sense. The outcome isn’t a flaw in character — it’s a predictable response to incentives built into the system.” (01/15/26)

    https://mises.org/power-market/why-good-money-always-disappears-when-bad-money-circulated

  • On “Leftists” And “Anarchists” Who Cheer For Regime Change In Iran

    Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
    by Caitlin Johnstone

    “Is there anything more undignified than ‘leftists’ and ‘anarchists’ who cheer on the fall of empire-targeted governments even as the empire moves war machinery into place? Ooh look at me I’m sticking it to the man by supporting the same agendas as the US State Department. I’m being punk rock by regurgitating the same war propaganda talking points as John Bolton. I’m fighting the power by backing the foreign policy objectives of the most powerful empire that has ever existed. Fucking embarrassing, man. If you want to have a serious political outlook it is necessary to have a more layered understanding of the world than ‘tyranny bad,’ because as westerners we ourselves are ruled by the most tyrannical power structure on earth.” [editor’s note: If you want to have a serious political outlook, it is necessary to have a more layered understanding of the world that “US regime bad, so every other festering sewer of a regime good” – TLK] (01/15/25)

    https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/01/15/on-leftists-and-anarchists-who-cheer-for-regime-change-in-iran/

  • Trump’s ego and Republican prospects are mutually exclusive

    Source: The Hill
    by Kevin Igoe

    “Any politically knowledgeable person who does not accept that Republicans are in serious trouble for the 2026 midterm elections is sleepwalking past the meaning of a series of 2025 elections. In 10 elections going back to April — ranging from state battles such as Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race to the special election in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District — the Democratic nominee ran at least 10 points better than the Democratic nominee in the previous race for that seat. It gets worse for Republicans. … Republicans will continue to court electoral disaster so long as President Trump continues to govern for his MAGA base — a very loud minority of the electorate, not a majority — and ignores the middle of the political spectrum. Until Trump accepts that, Republicans are behind the political eight ball.” (01/15/26)

    https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/5688405-republicans-trouble-2026-midterms/

  • If Britain Bans X, How Far Will It Go To Block Free Speech?

    Source: RealClearPolitics
    by Ted Newson

    “In what appears to be a rolling back on free speech and citizen journalism, Britain is fast-tracking a law that will ban non-consensual intimate deepfake images. This is likely aimed at the social media site X.com after its AI assistant Grok allegedly generated inappropriate images. In the scope of the global news cycle and a further ban potentially on the table, the move couldn’t be more poorly timed. It coincides with social media bans in socialist Tanzania and a sweeping Internet blackout by the Ayatollah of Iran. While Britain is not Iran, the direction of travel – using information control to manage dissent – bears uncomfortable similarities. Brits are justifiably worried: Is this the nail in the coffin of Britain’s free speech?” (01/15/26)

    https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2026/01/15/if_britain_bans_x_how_far_will_it_go_to_block_free_speech__153709.html

  • Latin America’s Lag

    Source: Foundation for Economic Education
    by Pedro Urso

    “The persistence of underdevelopment in Latin America cannot fully be explained solely by external factors, colonial legacies, or unfavorable cycles in the international economy. While these elements have played a significant role throughout history, it has become increasingly evident that the main obstacles to the region’s sustainable development lie in the fragility, capture, and dysfunctionality of its institutions. If the countries of this region intend to break with its history of low growth, inequality, and instability, the first step is to correct their political, legal, and economic institutions.” (01/15/26)

    https://fee.org/articles/latin-americas-lag/

  • Just as Dangerous: Vance and the 2028 Election

    Source: TomDispatch
    by Clarence Lusane

    “Donald Trump may, of course, be the Republican candidate for president in 2028, the U.S. Constitution notwithstanding. Although it is clearly written in the 22nd Amendment that ‘no person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice’, it may well be a majority vote of the Supreme Court that determines whether that applies to Trump. In the past, that court has gotten around the Constitution without a single word of it being changed. Rather, its judges have let an innovative interpretation prevail. In 1896, for instance, in Plessy v. Ferguson, the court ignored the unambiguous language of the 14th Amendment that demanded ‘equal protection’ and so upheld racial segregation by creating the fiction of ‘separate but equal’. It would take 58 years before that lie would be overturned.” (01/15/25)

    https://tomdispatch.com/just-as-dangerous/

  • Trump Already Gave Us the Blueprint for Abolishing ICE

    Source: The New Republic
    by Matt Ford

    “The public is coming around to the notion that the agency has to be eliminated. Fortunately, this administration and its Supreme Court allies have made that incredibly easy.” (01/15/26)

    https://archive.is/4xfvE

  • The Steep Cost of “Free” Child Care

    Source: The Dispatch
    by Katharine B Stevens & Jenet Erickson

    “‘[F]ree’ child care is one of the rare proposals to attract support across the political spectrum — from progressives concerned about affordability and gender equity to conservatives hoping to boost family formation and the labor force. It looks like a simple, popular solution to several hard problems at once. But political appeal is not the same as sound policy for young children. This sweeping plan to shift the care of America’s young children from their families to paid providers is wrong for children, not what most parents want, and undervalues the family’s irreplaceable role in early development.” (01/15/26)

    https://archive.is/jGN9y

  • Abundance of what? Abundance for what?

    Source: hypertext
    by Brink Lindsey

    “OK, so abundance has legs — but what kind of creature are they attached to? And where are those legs capable of taking us? What are the appropriate contours of the concept — we want an abundance of what, exactly? And what’s the social vision behind this desire for more — we want abundance for what?” (01/15/26)

    https://hypertext.niskanencenter.org/p/abundance-of-what-abundance-for-what

  • The Dangerous Desire for Recognition

    Source: Underthrow
    by Max Borders

    “Our big, important job, before we can change our systems, is to figure out how to dampen dynamics that hasten humiliation or deny dignity. In other words, how do we help people keep their cool?” (01/15/26)

    https://underthrow.substack.com/p/the-dangerous-desire-for-recognition

  • ICE puts us all in danger

    Source: OtherWords
    by Farrah Hassen

    “On January 7, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis—a city long enriched by immigrants and now under assault from thousands of ICE and Customs and Border Protection agents. Good, a 37-year-old poet and mother of three, was driving alongside her wife, Becca. They were observing an ICE raid in their community. ‘We stopped to support our neighbors. We had whistles. They had guns,’ said Becca. Sadly, at least three other people have been killed by ICE officers in the last five months, according to The Marshall Project. Among them was Silverio Villegas González, a 38-year-old father and cook originally from Mexico, who was fatally shot during a traffic stop in a Chicago suburb. Keith Porter Jr., a 43-year-old father of two (and, like Good, a US citizen) was shot and killed by an off-duty ICE agent on New Year’s Eve in Los Angeles.” (01/15/25)

    https://otherwords.org/ice-puts-all-of-us-in-danger/

  • ICE Is a Law-Breaking “Law Enforcement” Agency

    Source: The Bulwark
    by Mona Charen

    “We’ve seen masked government agents roughing people up, shouting obscenities at them, trapping them on freezing cold roofs, smashing their car windows, shooting pastors with pepper balls, shoving women to the ground, separating mothers from their children, and killing an unarmed American citizen as she attempted to maneuver her car away, dog in the backseat and glove compartment overflowing with colorful stuffed animals. This is not just excessive anti-immigrant zeal. This is certainly not the normal push and pull between political philosophies or parties. This is the Republican party’s attempt to tyrannize the American people and transform our carefully balanced, rights-honoring republic into a thugocracy.” (01/15/26)

    https://www.thebulwark.com/p/ice-is-a-law-breaking-law-enforcement-agency-minneapolis-minnesota-immigration-judge-brown

  • Does MAGA want Trump to “make regime change great again?”

    Source: Responsible Statecraft
    by Jack Hunter

    “The president went from praising ‘the wars we never get into’ to seeing how many the US can get into, and prominent members of his base are eating it up.” (01/15/26)

    https://responsiblestatecraft.org/maga-regime-change/

  • Missing the Marque: Reviving a Forgotten Constitutional Clause

    Source: Tenth Amendment Center
    by Joe Wolverton, II

    “Fortunately, there is a means of exposing suspected terrorists to justice, even when they are hiding out in nations that refuse to extradite them to the United States for that purpose. Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 of the Constitution authorizes Congress to ‘grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal.’ This is a power that is rarely discussed and almost never exercised.” (01/15/26)

    https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2026/01/15/missing-the-marque-reviving-a-forgotten-constitutional-clause/

  • Are Institutions Buying Up Single-Family Homes?

    Source: The Daily Economy
    by Jason Sorens

    “Institutional investors own less than one percent of single-family homes, and their impact on prices is modest. New evidence suggests their presence may reduce rents.” (01/15/26)

    https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/are-institutions-buying-up-single-family-homes/

  • Ban government insiders from prediction markets

    Source: Washington Post
    by US Representative Ritchie Torres (D-NY)

    “A bet on government action by a government actor is always a bet against the public interest.” (01/15/26)

    https://archive.is/fGJbx

  • On Foreign Policy, Trump 2.0 Is Dangerously Unrestrained

    Source: The American Conservative
    by Doug Bandow

    “Even as he underwrites and wages multiple wars, proposes a gargantuan $500 billion increase in military outlays, and plans to build his own Arc de Triomphe, President Donald Trump apparently believes himself to be a man of peace. He has become a classic example of historian Lord Acton’s dictum in action: ‘Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.’ As Trump completes the first year of his second term, he is demonstrating that his first term was merely a playful preview. This time he has gotten serious, with new wars and threats of war multiplying, sometimes on an almost daily basis. He believes that there are no meaningful limits — legal, institutional, constitutional, or even moral, other than his own musings — on loosing the dogs of war with the most powerful military on earth. This makes him potentially the most dangerous U.S. president yet.” (01/15/26)

    https://www.theamericanconservative.com/on-foreign-policy-trump-2-0-is-dangerously-unrestrained/

  • My father gave his life for Iran; today’s protesters are living his dream

    Source: Fox News
    by Shahryar Oveissi

    “I was in my mother’s womb when the Islamic Revolution of 1979 shattered my family’s homeland, forcing us into exile. Like so many Iranians, my country was stolen from me before I could even take my first breath. But my connection to Iran is not just a matter of heritage; it is written in blood. My father, Gen. Gholam Ali Oveissi, the former commander in chief of the Imperial Army, was a patriot who loved his people and died defending them against the tyranny of Ayatollah Khomeini. In 1984, he was assassinated in Paris for his loyalty to the Shah and his refusal to bow to the new regime. … today, the tide is turning. After 47 years of oppression, corruption and fiscal incompetence, the people of Iran — driven by a courageous younger generation — have had enough.” (01/15/25)

    https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/my-father-gave-his-life-iran-todays-protesters-living-his-dream

  • How site-neutral payment policies can save money for cancer patients and the chronically-ill

    Source: Niskanen Center
    by Sage Mehta

    “Every year, rising numbers of Americans are diagnosed with chronic health conditions — diagnoses that are accompanied by rising out-of-pocket expenses. It is especially difficult for patients with cancer and other life-threatening conditions, whose frequent and aggressive treatments force them to bear a disproportionate share of these escalating out-of-pocket costs. But in a new study from Niskanen experts, we found that one simple reform would significantly ease this burden on the most vulnerable, high-need patients: site-neutral Medicare payments.” (01/15/26)

    https://www.niskanencenter.org/how-site-neutral-payment-policies-can-save-money-for-cancer-patients-and-the-chronically-ill/

  • The New Epstein Island Is Right In Your Pocket: It’s Time To Abandon Elon Musk’s Paradise of Abuse

    Source: Liberal Currents
    by Alan Elrod

    “Over the past few weeks, it’s become clear that numerous users on X have been using Grok, Elon Musk’s AI chatbot that’s integrated into the platform, to produce thousands of nonconsensual sexualized images of people — primarily women. The most common theme has involved users requesting the chatbot edit images by removing clothing, adding items like bikinis, and even further sexualizing the subject by altering their pose or photoshopping in additional graphic details.” [editor’s note: Why on earth would “consent” be needed to create an image that looks like someone? – TLK] (01/15/26)

    https://www.liberalcurrents.com/the-new-epstein-island-is-right-in-your-pocket-its-time-to-abandon-elon-musks-paradise-of-abuse/

  • AI and the Art of Judgment

    Source: EconLog
    by Art Carden

    “A New York magazine article titled ‘Everyone Is Cheating Their Way Through College’ made the rounds in mid-2025. I think about it often, and especially when I get targeted ads that are basically variations on ‘if you use our AI tool, you’ll be able to cheat without getting caught.’ Suffice it to say it’s dispiriting. But the problem is not that students are ‘using AI.’ I ‘use AI,’ and it’s something everyone needs to learn how to do. The problem arises when students represent AI’s work as their own. At a fundamental level, the question of academic integrity and the use of artificial intelligence in higher education is not technological. It’s ethical.” (01/15/26)

    https://www.econlib.org/econlog/ai-and-the-art-of-judgment

  • An Assault on the Republic

    Source: Antiwar.com
    by Andrew P Napolitano

    “In a scene in Robert Bolt’s famous play ‘A Man for All Seasons,’ about the treason trial of St. Thomas More, More argues with the attorney general of Wales about the law. The attorney general says he’d cut down all the laws in England to get to the Devil. More reminds him that the laws were written to protect us from those who’d cut them down, because, More asks, when the Devil turns round and seeks you, where would you hide, the laws having been flattened? Answer: nowhere. The recent statement of President Donald Trump in an interview with The New York Times that on the international stage only his ‘own morality’ and his ‘own mind’ can restrain him is a direct repudiation of his oath of office because it effectively cuts down the laws.” (01/15/26)

    https://original.antiwar.com/andrew-p-napolitano/2026/01/14/an-assault-on-the-republic

  • Trump’s Unconstitutional Plan to Withhold all Federal Funding From Sanctuary Cities and States

    Source: The Volokh Conspiracy
    by Ilya Somin

    “The plan violates multiple constituitonal provisions and goes against Supreme Court precedent. If somehow allowed to stand, it would gravely imperil federalism and the separation of powers.” (01/15/26)

    https://reason.com/volokh/2026/01/15/trumps-unconstitutional-plan-to-withhold-all-federal-funding-from-sanctuary-cities-and-states/

  • The flaws in the Venezuela-Taiwan worldview

    Source: Semafor
    by Andy Browne

    “Just days before US special forces grabbed Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan strongman, China rehearsed a ‘decapitation’ strike against its own nemesis, Taiwan’s leader Lai Ching-te. The drill was part of an intensifying military pressure campaign to intimidate the Taiwanese leadership, demoralize the population, and wear down the island’s resistance to unification with the mainland. The PLA Daily claimed that Lai, aware of the drills, had ‘outwardly feigned composure, but inwardly felt extremely fearful.’ Could Lai be the next Maduro? Many US commentators and analysts see heightened risks of just that: In their telling, the Trump administration’s defiance of international law and diplomatic norms to seize Maduro has set a precedent for Beijing, or that President Donald Trump’s claims to US dominance of the Western Hemisphere — the ‘Donroe’ doctrine — implicitly offers Chinese leader Xi Jinping a freer hand in his own backyard. These concerns sound plausible — but are mostly wrong-headed.” (01/15/26)

    https://www.semafor.com/article/01/15/2026/the-flaws-in-the-venezuela-taiwan-worldview

  • I Used to Be a Critic of the Two-Party System — Now I Wish We Had One

    Source: CounterPunch
    by Robert Harris

    “The partisan charade boils down to a question of appearances. For Democrats, Trump is not guilty of war crimes so much as bad manners, crassly admitting that he is after the oil. Better to put lipstick on the pig and claim the empire is ‘promoting democracy.’ All the whining is about Congress being left out of the action.” (01/15/26)

    https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/01/15/i-used-to-be-a-critic-of-the-two-party-system-now-i-wish-we-had-one/